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Susan Egan, the voice behind Meg from Disney's 'Hercules,' honored as a Disney Legend
Susan Egan singing 'I Won't Say I'm in Love' at Destination D23 in Florida, 2025.
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Susan Egan, the voice behind Meg from Hercules, honored as a 'Disney Legend'
Susan Egan is best known as the voice of Megara in Hercules and the original Belle in the Beauty and the Best Broadway production. This weekend Egan is being honored at the D23 fan convention as a Disney Legend along with more than a dozen actors, composers and other contributors. Hear her conversation with All Things Considered host Nereida Moreno.
Susan Egan is a trailblazer in the Disney world.
She’s best known as the voice of Megara in "Hercules" and the original Belle in the Broadway version of "Beauty and the Beast."
This weekend, Egan is being honored at the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim as a Disney Legend along with more than a dozen actors, composers and other contributors.
Egan’s relationship with the world of Disney started at a young age. She grew up in Seal Beach, less than an hour away from Disneyland, and says her mother would take her and her siblings to the park on a school day every year.
“It just never occurred to me that you could actually work for that company, that could be what you do for a living,” Egan told LAist “It just seemed like play all the time.”
She was the first actor to play a Disney princess on Broadway in 1994, and said at the time it was a risky decision.
“We really didn't know if it was going to work. In essence, taking a cartoon and bringing it to the live audience, having to change some of the mythology because, you know, we can't be a 10-inch tall teapot. You have to be a full human-sized teapot,” said Egan.
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But she says the audience loved the Broadway production as much as they loved the movie.
She went on to voice the sharp-tongued Megara from "Hercules," who she calls a “Disney heroine ahead of her time.”
“Honestly her flaws are what make her so relatable. I hear from a lot of young women ‘Oh Meg, I could relate to Meg.’ I go, ‘Me too. Honestly yeah, string of bad boyfriends, same.'”
Egan has harnessed her love for Disney into her production company, 10th & Main, with producing partner Adam J. Levy. Together they’ve produced Disney Princess: The Concert, which has toured across five continents, the recurring production aboard Disney cruise ships called Broadway Star Series and other programs.
10th & Main is also putting together a show for the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event this weekend called Disney Rewind Concerts. Egan says it’s celebrating the Disney movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“ We have the voice of Goofy, Bill Farmer, and Jodi Benson, the voice of Little Mermaid, is in the concert. We've got Disney icon Jim Cummings, who's the voice of 400 Disney characters,” said Egan. It’s happening on Friday and Saturday night and will be streamed on Disney+.
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event runs this weekend Aug. 14 through Aug. 16 at the Anaheim Convention Center. There will be performances and panels from the cast and producers of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Simpsons, Camp Rock 3 and others.
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